The Internet Constitutes The Major Threat To Nigeria’s Survival As A Nation - Prof. Yemi Osinbajo

The Acting President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo yesterday described cyberspace as one of
the greatest threats to Nigeria’s existence and challenged the military
to concentrate a serious attention on this ‘theatre of war.’

Prof. Osinbajo
who made this submission while delivering a speech at graduation
ceremony of the senior course 39 of the Armed Forces, Command and Staff
College, Jaji, Kaduna, described the cyberspace as battle ground against
Nigeria’s unity, reasoning that the internet had become the harbour for
hate, provocative and inciting speeches capable of destabilising the
nation.

The acting president who further described the cyberspace
as currently designed as a theatre of war in the 21st century, added
that it had become the platform for articulation of terrorist activities
as well as offensive expressions and tasked the military to see the
cyberspace as a conventional battle field to which it must deploy
forces.

Arguing that the cyberspace had equally become the
training school for the production and use of improvised explosive
devices (IEDs), Osinbajo further described it as the avenue for
promotion of secession and quit ultimatum by some South-easterners and
Northerners in recent times.

“Another lesson is that in the 21st
century the theatre of war is increasingly shifting to cyberspace.
Terrorist organisations, purveyors of hate speech, all of these and many
more who seek to destabilise the world are busy staking out territory
on the internet, and scoring significant victories and conquests for
themselves.

“As members of the Armed Forces, with a mandate to
protect Nigeria from all forms of internal and external aggression, you
will increasingly be judged as much on the basis of your success online
as on your successes on the conventional battlefield. “The
internet has altered or disrupted every industry we know of: politics
and elections, business and commerce, governance; and is changing the
very nature of warfare. Websites teaching on how to make and use IEDs
and other explosives are numerous.

“Today a great deal of the
threats facing Nigeria are being nurtured and cultivated in the vast
spaces of the internet. The rumblings of secession, the dangerous quit
ultimatums to ethnic groups, the radio stations and blogs that spew
divisive speech and exploit our fault lines; all of these are now to be
found online. “This means that the military and its officers and
men must itself devote resources and talent to these new battlefields,
where mindless verdicts on the continued unity and existence of Nigeria
are daily being delivered.

“As you make your way out of the
hallowed halls of this institution, into the ‘field’, as you would
describe it, you have huge roles to play in the way Nigeria turns out in
the years and decades ahead,” he said.

Osinbajo also lamented
that ethnicity and religion had become effective tools for bargaining in
Nigeria, pointing out that “when you hear a person say that my tribe
has been marginalised usually what he is saying is appoint me.” Observing
further that ethnicity and religion have become tools of defence,
Osinbajo added that when people are charged for looting public funds,
they claim that they are being victimised because of their religion and
tribe.

Citing countries such as Italy, India and United States as
countries which share the same diversities with Nigeria, he said the
success stories of their fusion had only shown that Nigeria did not
necessarily need to be a perfect union before it could be a great
country. Describing the Nigerian elite as Nigeria’s major
problem, he was swift to add that the elite were confronted with the
challenge and wonderful opportunity to build a new nation devoid of
cynicism, division and suspicion.

“A new nation built on trust,
consensus, love for one another and love for our country is possible. A
nation where the rulers do not steal the commonwealth, where every
Nigerian is safe to live and work, where the state takes responsibility
for the security of each and every Nigerian, where the state knows every
Nigerian by name and can find and locate each one of us, a Nigeria
where the Ibo or Ijaw man can live peacefully in Sokoto, and the Fulani
man can live peacefully in the Niger Delta,” he added.

By Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja

The Internet Constitutes The Major Threat To Nigeria’s Survival As A Nation - Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
Reviewed by Exlink Lodge
on
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Rating: 5